Led by their fearless web 2.0 hero, Shelley Bernstein, the museum has found innovative new ways to interface with emerging artists and visitors with viewpoints.

In October for example, the museum launched a ”Visitor Video Competition” where visitors were invited to film a one minute video showing how the museum experience looked through their eyes, all of which can be watched below from the Museum's You Tube page.Winners were announced on November 3rd and include: Mr. Cool, the Art Thief, and Off the Wall.

Submissions were judged by an impressive panel including Christina Norman, President of MTV Music Television; Danny Simmons of the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation; and Patrick Amsellem, Associate Curator of Photography at the Brooklyn Museum. First, second, and third-prize winners will share a visit to William Wegman's studio to meet the artist and his canine muses. Thanks to the wonders of a web 2.0 world, a simple visit to the museum could transform into an emerging artists big break.

We caught up with Shelley to learn more about the recent competition, the museum’s foray into web 2.0 fray, and find out how emerging artists can get more involved with the museum.

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BROOKLYNART PROJECT (BAP): What gave you the idea to let visitors record their own "cinematic explorations" of the Museum?

BROOKLYNMUSEUM(BM): With all of our profiles on Web 2.0 sites (Flickr, MySpace, YouTube, blip.tv, Twitter), we try and tailor the content to each particular community. We started to talk about how to really engage the YouTube audience and decided that we wouldn't necessarily push our own content, but ask for it instead. That equation seemed more natural in the YouTube community. Our Public Information department had been working with Max and Bryant at Pratt to pull together their video and it provided a good launching point for our contest. I love the fact that the videos in the competition have garnered more views than our own content, which really speaks to our original idea of asking for content from our community of visitors.

BAP: What surprised you most about the submissions?

BM: Many staffers are watching the videos as they come in and the one thing everyone keeps remarking about is the wide range. All of them are so different in tone and theme - directors got really creative and the content has been surprising. The results are as diverse, goofy and exciting as Target First Saturday itself, so they reflect the event in a unique way. It's always interesting to see things you deal with every day in a new light. This is similar to all the photos we see in our Flickr group - I often see things that I wouldn't expect. In terms of my own dailyexperience of working here, it keeps things fresh.

BAP: It's pretty forward thinking of the museum to be embracing web 2.0 technology in this way, are there more "visitor-content" projects in the works?

BM: Our mission is community-oriented and so Web 2.0 is a natural extension of what do all the time. Visitor content has its roots in the galleries...going back to our "Community Voice" labels next to objects that featured quotes from visitors next. I think the technology is enabling us to incorporate our visitors' voices more easily and we think about this constantly. In one ongoing and recent example, we are replacing the paper comment books in the galleries to electronic versions.

The e-versions allow visitor comments to be displayed directly on the web for all to see, in addition to the galleries. They also help us internally because the comments are easier for us to view, think about and respond to if necessary. In terms of upcoming projects, we've got a few things we are thinking about and testing but nothing concrete just yet. The results were so great from the Video Competition we are thinking about doing that on an annual basis.

BAP: The museum's blog and podcasts are really well done, can you tell our members a bit more about them?

BM: Thanks so much! In our podcasts we try and stick to the original idea of a podcast - spontaneous and not so polished. We really want to get content out there, so we try not to go too crazy over the editing and the sound quality. We just overhauled the blog back in June after some inspiration from other bloggers. The idea now is to try and provide a really open, behind-the-scenes look at the museum. Authors are easily identified, so readers know exactly who's posting, and we are covering a wide variety of perspectives. To stay true to the idea of blogging, the content is direct from author to reader. We have a set of guidelines for our bloggers, but otherwise the content is directly published.

If you have a feed reader, you can subscribe to our RSS feeds. On any page of our website, a visitor can click the RSS symbol in the address bar and see all the content that can be subscribed to (including the blogs, the podcasts, events, Target First Saturday schedule info, etc.). For some reason, the RSS in the address bar does not show up in IE, so if you are using that browser look for the RSS symbol on our blog or podcast pages in the Community area of our site.

BAP: How can local emerging artists get more involved with the museum?

BM: This is a really great question and one that the Museum is addressing in our current strategic planning meetings. While the staff and the Board of Trustees are still in discussions about this, the Museum is thinking about ways to connect with the amazing community of artists who are living and working in Brooklyn Also of note, we have some history here too - we had a series of exhibitions in the past called Working in Brooklyn, and more recently, Open House, which might be of interest.

Explore more at brooklynmuseum.org or visit any of the Brooklyn Museum community links below:

Well folks it's officially that time of year again. The 11th Annual Art Under the Bridge Festival officially gets underway this Friday, September 28th through Sunday, September 30 here in Brooklyn, New York.

Dumbo Arts Center, the Festival’s Producer is anticipating over 150,000 visitors again this year. Sixty new art works will be scattered throughout the neighborhood, while 158 private studios will open to the public. Exhibitions will run in sixteen different venues.

The hood's already buzzing with art galleries filling every last space and a palpable sense of creative preparation in the air. The event is the single largest urban forum for experimental art in the United States, transforming this distinctive waterfront neighborhood of DUMBO into a multi-sensory public art arena.

Brooklyn Art Project is a proud sponsor of the 11th Annual Art Under
the Bridge Festival. We'll be opening our studios to the public during
the festival and featuring the work of select members to be announced
this week as well as the three winning submissions from our Battle for
Brooklyn where members submitted 100 entries then voted which would go
on to show in Brooklyn. Winners included Stool Nude - By Raphe, Hello Friend by John W. Golden, and New Ballard Fashion, by Jane Yohnson.

///// VOLUNTEERS NEEDEDIf you're an artist, a great way to get out there and network is to volunteer for the event. Dumbo Arts Center is still accepting volunteers so if you're interested call them ASAP at 718.694.0831 or via email at gallery@dumboartscenter.org.

///// 2007 FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

MOST POPULAR 2007 ARTIST THEME - GREEN

If the pick of each year is a barometer of the prevailing cultural climate, then the GREEN theme probably wins for 2007, manifest both in the use of recycled materials and eco-conscious strategies.

* In a performance piece titled Transform Jackson Martin breathes new life into a pick-up truck, reincarnated as a mobile greenhouse.

* Chicken Invasion '07 is a metaphor for the stigmatization of immigrants, where Alfonso Munoz recycles plastic bags and bottles to fabricate the chickens.

* Eve Mosher's High Water Line draws attention to global warming in a projected flood mark drawn in chalk along the Brooklyn Waterfront.

* Smudge Studio explores the aesthetics and efficiency of sustainability with The Poetics of Night Soil, an interactive art piece consisting of a functional outdoor composting toilet.

* Myk Henry and Cynthia Ruse encourage festival-goers to waltz along a lush grass sidewalk and on Sunday afternoon, take a sod-to-go for planting at home.

* Independent curator, Aniko Erdosi curates, Remarks from Yesterday for Tomorrow, a group show of young Hungarians at 111 Front Street, which includes a recycling station, where visitors can create their own handbag or notebook from used fruit juice cartons and street ad vinyl.

OTHER 2007 POPULAR ARTIST THEMES - SEX / IDENTITY / GENDERRunning a close second to the theme of GREEN, issues of SEX, IDENTITY and GENDER surface in other projects.

* Dumbo Arts Center hosts Sex in the City, a group exhibition by independent curator, Dean Daderko. In conjunction with the gallery show, Daderko presents, Third Sex-y, in the loading dock of 45 Main Street: an evening of debauchery, celebratory, revelatory, queer uproar and mixed media mélange of video, performance, poetry and full-on entertainment from a surprise cast.

* At 111 Front Street, independent curator, Felicity Hogan, will present Rashaad Newsome and Duran Jackson, two artists whose common denominator is an exploration of black identity in popular culture and contemporary society. Using performance, installation, video and digital technology, both artists harness the language of gesture, choreographed actors and specific use of male and female performers.

* With Party Dress in the Brooklyn Bridge Park, Dana and Karla Karwas show how a party dress is meant to be worn: waist-clinching, corseted gowns, monumental in scale, with skirts so vast they provide a tent for a chamber music ensemble. The music pavilion is "worn" by six women, seamlessly injecting architecture into fashion in its use of body as space. Step under the skirts, taste a sweet cupcake and enjoy the music...

MORE PICKS:

* Visitors can hop on a water taxi at the Fulton Ferry Landing and travel as far as the Manhattan Bridge and back to enjoy long-running favorite, Project Glo, art works, which illuminate the East River waterfront. After sparkling success in 2006, chandelier artist, NATSU, returns to outdo the Manhattan skyline with thousands of sequins.

* Watch out for members of Caitlin Berrigan's Smelling Committee, who have to make their way blindfold through Dumbo via nothing, but their sense of smell in a new category we're calling the Conceptual Tour Guide.

* Numerous Simultaneous Projections will be lighting up the night on facades in Dumbo. Public art collaborative, Illegal Art, mastermind of the recent highly popular interactive Post-It project on Front Street, will present a new project, which invites Dumbo residents and visitors to participate in discovering the value of the neighborhood's past, present and future as an active and creative community.

* In a live presentation by international artist Vitaly Komar, co-founder (with Alex Melamid) of an elephant art academy in Thailand, the fresh-out-of-art school elephant, Dondi, swings her massive trunk and demonstrates her artistic prowess (sponsored by Two Trees Management Inc.)

* For more international exotic flavor, The Hungarian Cultural Center challenges national and international artists to interpret Hungary's national dish, Stuffed Cabbage, at street vendor style carts along Water Street.

VIDEO_DUMBO FESTIVAL

* At 81 Front Street, Caspar Stracke and Gabriella Monroy, present a new showcase of cutting edge, contemporary video art including a special program from Seoul and Pusan, South Korea and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

OPEN STUDIOS

* Saturday, Sept. 29th and Sunday, Sept. 30th, 1:00-6:00 pm: hundreds of artists welcome the public into their studio spaces to get a behind the scenes look at the old factory buildings, where artists have been flourishing for decades. Smack Mellon will feature seven current Artists-in-Residence in their recently relocated basement studios.

* Triangle Arts Association will be celebrating its 25th anniversary with an Alumni Exhibition, including artists dating as far back as the organization's inception in 1982.

* Jane's Carousel: Saturday, September 29 and Sunday, September 30, noon-4 pm: Jane Walentas' fully-restored 48-horse carousel, constructed in 1922 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company and unveiled at last year's festival, will be operating again this year. All rides @ $1.00. Proceeds will be generously donated to the Dumbo Arts Center.

Click anywhere below to feed the fish. We thought this was pretty cool and now we're curious to see what other kinds of interactive, web based art is out there that uses similar technology. Seen something impressive? Tell us about it. Thanks to Adam Bowman for creating some peace with pixels.